And then he scores lol

One swallow doesn't make a summer.

It's the end product he showed today that is often missing from his game.

If he starts doing that with any sort of regularity then he's going to be one of the first names on the team sheet.

How many appearances has he made since his last goal? 10? 15?

He's clearly capable but needs to start delivering, especially in the league.

I just thought it was funny. Mind you, it must have been playing on him, going hy his celebration

If we're now arguing that the attacking players have too many defensive duties and should be allowed to focus on attack more then we really should let Schurrle have a run of 5-8 games in the team without subbing him off early, a courtesy Willian has had.

It would be interesting to see how much of a difference it made to our attacking play but also the consequence on our defense, especially if Ivanovic isn't bombing forward with free license.

Well we wouldnt be the first team to sacrifice soild defending for all out attack. Ardiles' Tottenham, Keegan's Newcastle, indeed, Liverpool last season.

Would probably be exciting and entertaining but with many more empty spaces in our trophy cabinet.

One swallow doesn't make a summer.

depends who's doing the swalllowing...

(I apologise, that was crass)

Well we wouldnt be the first team to sacrifice soild defending for all out attack. Ardiles' Tottenham, Keegan's Newcastle, indeed, Liverpool last season.

Would probably be exciting and entertaining but with many more empty spaces in our trophy cabinet.

Ferguson's United team that had Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez was pretty nifty.

Even Carlo's title winning Chelsea side was pretty attack minded. Mourinho's title winning Madrid side?

I don't think you always need to chuck caution at the wind but the manager needs to have faith in his attacking players.

Based on Jose's selections and substitutions this season it looks like the only attackers he has faith in are Hazard and Costa (and Drogba from the bench).

One thing that can never be said of him is that he is inconsistent. I think that is part of what Jose likes about him. He's a bit like Azpilicueta. Never spectacular but he plays his role to a high standard, keeping the ball, tracking back, pressing.

He comes in for a lot of criticism on here but I personally believe that if we were to sign a Reus for example it would be Oscar who would end up benched before Willian.

One game in about 10 games, matches his career stats so far. Not everyone's favourite, but a lot better than Schurlle these days, deserve to start. One of his main duties is to cover for Ivanoic, I'm not sure whether that's a good idea because Ivanoic really hasn't offered that much in attack number wise ( assists, goals). Everyone knows he can't cross. Maybe it's time for Ivanoic to not bombing forward every time he gets a chance, let Willian do more in attack than track back. Or dare I dream, Ivanoic defend, we get Resus in attack and doesn't have to track back every minute.

Yay he scored. Beautiful goal too. Now he needs to do it in the Premier League against teams who won't give him that much space.

Good footballer, but seriously he does have somewhat a brain fade in the final third imo.

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by CFCBlue12

He had one of his best games against Swansea, he could and maybe should have had a hattrick. If only he could sort out his final ball and finish, he would be a hell of a player. But he has always been this way though throughout his career so i don't see it ever improving all that much.

He's defintely the better football than Schurrle, not a chance Schurrle could join in the play like Willian.

 

But Willians game time to Schurrle is shocking, we need more rotation in that area, that's one of the big issues I feel. Willian does warrant his game time, although I agree with Willian starting most games.

One of the main criticisms of Willian is his decision making and we all seem to be in tandem in thinking Sanchez is superior to Willian in an attacking sense. But for those who watched the City game there were a few times Sanchez had options and chose the wrong one.

I can't understand anyone who thinks this guy is good enough. Not saying he's a bad player, he's not, but up to the standard we require? Not a chance.

 

Games like tonight, high intensity, frenzied atmosphere, big stakes, he goes missing, time and time again. At no point do you think he's going to do something, that he's going to make the difference. He's too timid for these games, he has a weak mindset. He does not want to take responsibility. The difference between him and our other three attacking players was immense. Costa, Fabregas and Hazard looked like men, Willian looked like a little boy lost. Did we even attack down his side once? How many times did he lose the ball? Yes he did good work defensively but we want more than that. These are tough games, you need to be tough, you need to stand up and be a man. I just don't think he has it in him.

 

Before anyone says he worked well defensively, yes he did, and that's clearly one of the reasons Jose likes him, but he has to show more quality. For me he looks good in the easy games but in the big games too often he's anonymous.

 

He plays for the top team in the country and he has one Premiership goal all season, and precious few assists, and he's supposedly at his peak.

 

We need a killer. He's not a killer.

Under normal circumstances I would agree but all I can say today is thank f**k he was switched on otherwise we would have conceded goals all day long down that right hand side with Ivan going walkabouts. 

I actually thought he was one of our better players tonight.  Better than Costa certainly.  

I actually thought he was one of our better players tonight.  Better than Costa certainly.

Better than pretty much every other midfielder too.

I actually thought he was one of our better players tonight.  Better than Costa certainly.  

Costa was pretty poor, not sure what Davey means.

Costa was pretty poor, not sure what Davey means.

 

Big balls.

I can't understand anyone who thinks this guy is good enough. Not saying he's a bad player, he's not, but up to the standard we require? Not a chance.

 

Games like tonight, high intensity, frenzied atmosphere, big stakes, he goes missing, time and time again. At no point do you think he's going to do something, that he's going to make the difference. He's too timid for these games, he has a weak mindset. He does not want to take responsibility. The difference between him and our other three attacking players was immense. Costa, Fabregas and Hazard looked like men, Willian looked like a little boy lost. Did we even attack down his side once? How many times did he lose the ball? Yes he did good work defensively but we want more than that. These are tough games, you need to be tough, you need to stand up and be a man. I just don't think he has it in him.

 

Before anyone says he worked well defensively, yes he did, and that's clearly one of the reasons Jose likes him, but he has to show more quality. For me he looks good in the easy games but in the big games too often he's anonymous.

 

He plays for the top team in the country and he has one Premiership goal all season, and precious few assists, and he's supposedly at his peak.

 

We need a killer. He's not a killer.

To be fair, did Willian have a fullback playing on his side so he could go forward?  Not really this match, he had to carry a rather pedestrian Ivan.  I can only imagine what the result would of been had one of the other wingers been playing.  Likely not another goal for us but very likely a few more conceded.

Worked his nuts off then worked them off again! Without him we would have lost tonight.

I can't understand anyone who thinks this guy is good enough. Not saying he's a bad player, he's not, but up to the standard we require? Not a chance.

 

Games like tonight, high intensity, frenzied atmosphere, big stakes, he goes missing, time and time again. At no point do you think he's going to do something, that he's going to make the difference. He's too timid for these games, he has a weak mindset. He does not want to take responsibility. The difference between him and our other three attacking players was immense. Costa, Fabregas and Hazard looked like men, Willian looked like a little boy lost. Did we even attack down his side once? How many times did he lose the ball? Yes he did good work defensively but we want more than that. These are tough games, you need to be tough, you need to stand up and be a man. I just don't think he has it in him.

 

Before anyone says he worked well defensively, yes he did, and that's clearly one of the reasons Jose likes him, but he has to show more quality. For me he looks good in the easy games but in the big games too often he's anonymous.

 

He plays for the top team in the country and he has one Premiership goal all season, and precious few assists, and he's supposedly at his peak.

 

We need a killer. He's not a killer.

 

Pretty much this. In games where we need someone to step up then it's Hazard, Cesc, Matic, Costa or even one of the defenders that does it. Hell I think even Ramires has done that in the past a few times.

 

When things are going well then Willian won't let you down. He'll contribute and be swept along by other players performing well, but in the tight games (not last night, that was just a terrible performance all round) I don't trust him to step up and if we truly have aspirations to be a top, top European side on a consistent basis then you need winners at that end of the pitch.

 

Is Willian a winner? In the Ukrainian league certainly.

In all honesty I find it quite funny that Willian gets so much stick for being bad at the things that Malouda was best at, even though Malouda equally received no end of grief for apparently being too selfish.

Sometimes I wonder if you were sent here to defend everything about the club. 

 

Somebody has to do it.